The Challenge
by a unique solution
Summary: Raijin Academy AU. Izaya attempts to discover what Shizuo's favourite Pocky flavour is, and gets much more than he bargained for. Shizaya. Fluff.


Author's note: Pocky, for those who don't know, is a kind of snack that's basically a long, thin, chocolate-coated biscuit stick. It comes in all sorts of different flavours, the most popular being plain milk chocolate and strawberry. Pocky Day, derived from Pepero Day (the history of which you can look up yourself), is "celebrated" on 11/11, since the date looks like a bunch of Pocky sticks (brilliant, right?). It's like Valentine's Day, in that you give sweets to the person you like; the bonus is you can (attempt to) share a single stick of Pocky with your beloved (à la Lady and the Tramp), which is y'know, romantic and stuff or whatever. Anyway, I think it's a great excuse for a fluffy Shizaya fic, so I wrote this.

- The Challenge -

As the lunch bell rang, Izaya folded his notebook shut and casually placed it back in his schoolbag, all the while pretending not to notice the girl who was making a beeline to his desk.

"Orihara-kun, um, I, uh," she stuttered, holding out a daintily wrapped box in her shaking hands. "I bought this for you..."

"Hmm?" Izaya peered at her with wide, innocent eyes. He took the box and examined it curiously, and though he was already certain of its contents, he said cheerfully, "A present? For me? How kind of you!"

The girl blushed, ducking her head and letting her soft bangs fall over her eyes before she hastily brushed them aside. Her voice came out as barely a squeak, "Y-yes, since today is Pocky Day, I thought..."

Izaya swiftly began unwrapping the box, and his eyes glinted mischievously as he saw the pink cardboard beneath the wrapping paper. He grinned toothily. "Ah, of course! Strawberry Pocky."

He proceeded to undo the snack's packaging, and carefully withdrew a single, unbroken stick of Pocky. Teasingly, he placed one end of the stick inside his mouth, and angled it upwards toward the girl, as though inviting her to take a bite of the other end. His smile was as artificial as the pale pink chocolate coating on the biscuit, but the girl did not seem to notice; she leaned down, a deep blush spreading across her cheeks.

By then, the entire class was staring at the duo and their rather blatant public display of affection. Sensing that the time had come to end his little act, Izaya promptly leaned his head back, snapping up the entire stick of Pocky in a few quick bites and munching loudly on the biscuit as he hummed happily, "Actually, strawberry is my favourite flavour, so, I don't want to share any with you. Thanks, though~!"

The girl was speechless. Her cheeks were flushed a deep, almost purplish red, and two large tears began to well up in her eyes. Without a word, she dashed for the door of the classroom, skidding to a halt just in time to avoid running into someone. She gasped, trying to sidestep the person in the doorway, but they did not budge.

"Whoa! Slow down— wait, are you crying?" Shinra said, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder gently. Panicking, she forcefully pushed past him, rubbing at her eyes with her sleeves in a futile attempt to hide her tears. Helplessly, Shinra let her pass.

"Yo~! Shinra-kun! Dotachin!" Izaya waved at the two of them, and they quickly walked over to where he was seated, not wanting to draw any more attention to themselves.

"Izaya, did you make that girl cry?" Kadota frowned, pulling up a chair while Shinra took the seat in front of Izaya's desk. The classroom slowly returned to its regular level of chatter as the three of them unpacked their lunches.

"Hmm? I don't know what you're talking about~" Izaya said, blinking and smiling cutely as he nibbled on another stick of Pocky.

"That was pretty harsh, even for you." Kadota said, looking quite serious.

Izaya sneered at the older boy. "You're just jealous you didn't get any Pocky from girls today."

"Ehh?!" Kadota, who had just taken a bite of his food, immediately choked on it. Coughing, he glared at Izaya, who was giving him an irritatingly triumphant look. "W-well, neither did Shinra!"

"Hey! Don't drag me into this!" Shinra said, pouting slightly. "Besides, I only want to share Pocky with Celty-kun..."

"Celty eats Pocky? That's kind of unexpected..." Izaya mused aloud.

"I mean, I don't know if she does, but if she did...!" Shinra trailed off, his eyes glimmering with naive hope. Izaya rolled his eyes in exaggerated exasperation as Shinra continued to babble about his beloved dullahan.

After they finished their lunches, Izaya returned to his box of Pocky, and was looking entirely too pleased with himself for scoring the free sweets. Kadota stared at him irately, and couldn't help but to mutter, "Don't you think having strawberry as your favourite flavour is a little... emasculating?"

Izaya blanched at this, and Shinra stifled a snicker. Pointing a stick at Kadota accusingly, Izaya huffed, "Oh yeah? What's your favourite flavour, then?

"Ah... I just like the regular kind." Kadota said eventually.

"Wow! Boring!" Izaya practically cut the other boy off, much to Kadota's annoyance. Turning to Shinra instead, Izaya said, "Shinra, I bet you like some weird flavour!"

"Hm? Well, my favourite flavour is probably... purple sweet potato." Shinra replied, an absent-minded smile on his face.

"... Weird." Kadota said flatly.

"It's not weird! One time in the winter, when I was really little, I was sick and so Celty—" Shinra began with a nostalgic look on his face.

"Great story, Shinra-kun! Moving on," Izaya clapped his hands together once. "I think it's obvious that strawberry is the best flavour. You guys just have poor taste. Plus, if you were really manly you wouldn't be worried about something as non-consequential as enjoying strawberry Pocky. So, I guess that just means I'm super awesome and manly... and I have impeccable taste!"

"I can't even begin to tell you how deeply flawed your logic is," Kadota sighed, shaking his head slowly. Izaya flashed him a quick grin, which of course only earned him a second sigh.

Shortly afterwards, the bell rang again, signalling the end of their lunch break. As they were packing their things, a certain blond entered the room.

"Hiii, Shizuo-kun!" Shinra greeted the other boy happily. Shizuo looked over in their direction, and for a moment, seemed as though he was going to utter a greeting as well, before his gaze fell upon Izaya and steeled. Heading straight for his desk, Shizuo sat down and dug out his textbook, pretending to read it in a determined attempt to ignore the trio.

"Heheh, Shizu-chan probably didn't get any Pocky either," Izaya snickered loudly, making sure he would be overheard by the blond. "Ahh, I'm so sorry for making you all jealous~ I guess I'm just too good-looking~?"

A chair promptly went soaring towards them, barely missing Kadota, who leaped out of the way just in time. Heaving a great sigh, he hurriedly packed up his empty bento box, making it a point to pass by Shizuo's desk as he left for his own classroom. "Try not to let him get to you, Shizuo."

Shizuo glanced up at Kadota, who gave him a sympathetic look in return. After all, being a year older than them, he had the luxury of not having any classes whatsoever with Izaya. Shizuo, on the other hand, was not so lucky. With a low mumble of acknowledgement, Shizuo returned to staring at his textbook, but the words swam in front of his eyes, and completely failed to block out Izaya and Shinra's inane conversation.

"I wonder what Shizuo-kun's favourite flavour is?" Shinra wondered aloud.

Izaya waved a hand dismissively. "It's probably something stupid, like... milk. Or, he doesn't even like Pocky. Or, he doesn't even know what Pocky _is_."

"Eh, somehow, I doubt it," Shinra said, though he did not clarify what it was that he doubted.

"Well, who cares what Shizu-chan's favourite flavour is!" Izaya said, and crossed his arms.

"But... don't you want to know?" Shinra's soft brown eyes were lit with a glowing curiosity, making evident his transparent thirst for even the most trivial knowledge.

Izaya glared sharply at him. Now that Shinra had gone and made such a big deal of it, of course he wanted to know, god dammit! Running a hand through his short locks, Izaya sighed, and finally said, "Aahh, fine! I accept your challenge! I will find out what it is by the end of the day!"

Shinra blinked in confusion. "Wait, what challenge?"

Most students had settled into their desks by then, and the teacher cleared his throat, calling for their attention. Class began with the handing out of a marked quiz. To Shinra's dismay, he had scored one mark lower than Izaya, who had somehow gotten a perfect score. The classroom was filled with the quiet whisperings of grade comparisons. Shizuo glanced at his own grade briefly before folding the quiz paper and stuffing it into his bag. Eight out of ten... that wasn't so bad, was it?

"Now then, please open your textbooks to page fifty-seven..." The teacher began.

"Excuse me sir, what was the quiz marked out of?" Izaya called out.

"Thirty. The average mark was twenty-two— not too bad, but it was supposed to be a fairly easy quiz, so I was expecting a bit higher..."

Shizuo shrank into his seat. Eight out of thirty was... _slightly not good_. From behind him, he could hear Izaya's quiet snickers, and he balled his hands tightly into fists. That damned flea...!

Not five minutes later, a wad of crumpled paper hit him in the head as the teacher was writing something on the blackboard. Whirling around, Shizuo glared silently at the girl sitting directly behind him, who in turn looked absolutely terrified. Picking up and unfolding the piece of paper, however, he recognized Izaya's handwriting, and almost promptly stuffed the note into his desk. But, his curiosity got the better of him, and he peeked at the writing.

'I'm guessing Shizu-chan failed the last quiz? Haha~!'

Biting back a growl of annoyance, Shizuo crumpled up the paper again and shoved it into his desk, trying his utmost to focus on the teacher's dull, droning voice. Yet, once again, another wad of paper was thrown at him, and this time, Shizuo picked it up and immediately tore it into pieces before stuffing them into his desk. Hardly ten seconds later, a third ball of paper hit him in the head.

Annoyed, Shizuo finally looked at what was written on the note. 'Why'd you rip up my last note?! That's not very nice, Shizu-chan! Also, what's your favourite flavour of Pocky?'

What the hell was this? Shizuo rolled his eyes, and put the note in his desk. A few minutes later, yet another note was thrown at him, and scrawled across it were the words, 'Don't ignore me, Shizu-chan!'

But Shizuo was able to do a fine job of ignoring the other boy, and soon, a small pile of crumpled paper had amassed around his desk. Then, Izaya managed to toss a note such that it landed directly onto his desk. Shizuo scowled at the offending piece of paper, but the lecture was boring and he was getting a little curious. What could the flea possibly be so riled up about?

He almost immediately regretted reading the note. 'Did you know? Girls get sad when you don't share things they gave to you with them. Isn't that completely illogical? This girl from class 2-B cried today because I didn't give her any Pocky, but she gave me the Pocky to begin with! I don't understand it at all...'

Shizuo stood up from his seat, quaking with rage and looking positively murderous, with his desk already lifted up far above his head. His eyes were fixed on Izaya, while the students sitting nearby immediately scattered as Shizuo turned to face them.

And Izaya merely smirked.

"Heiwajima Shizuo! What do you think you're doing?! Put that down this instant!" The teacher barked, and Shizuo flinched slightly. After a few tense moments, he caved, and dropped the desk, which fell to the floor with a loud clatter.

"Fuck, it's this bastard, he keeps throwing paper at me!" Shizuo growled, throwing a venomous look at Izaya as he righted his desk.

"Watch your language, Heiwajima!" The teacher said sternly. "And, you two are both staying for detention!"

"Wait, what!?" Izaya said reflexively, which only earned him a sharp look from the teacher in response. Shizuo looked angry, yet also somewhat satisfied with this, and settled back down in his seat; and the class, though slightly shaken by Shizuo's outburst, continued on at its usual pace.

* * *

The last one to leave, Shinra waved cheerfully at the two of them and said, "Have fun with your detention!"

"That's not something you're supposed to say!" Izaya snapped irritably in response.

The teacher instructed them to clean the classroom, and sat at his desk silently marking homework assignments. While Shizuo was working as quickly as he could to get the whole thing over with, Izaya seemed to be doing things in a purposely useless fashion. It annoyed the hell out of Shizuo that the teacher hadn't even noticed this, and was about to speak up, when Izaya, who had been sweeping the floor close to their teacher's desk, suddenly knocked over a cup of cold coffee that had been sitting precariously close to the edge of the desk.

The black liquid spilled all over the students' papers, as well as onto their teacher's brown slacks. Shizuo couldn't help but grin as the teacher stood up and furiously berated Izaya for being so careless, while Izaya apologized profusely, offering little consolation in the fact that at least the man's pants were a dark brown anyway.

"I'm going to go wash this out. If my desk isn't sparkling clean by the time I get back, you two are going to be in detention for the rest of the week!" The teacher stormed out of the room before Shizuo could cry indignantly about why _he_ would have to be in detention when what had happened was clearly Izaya's fault alone.

Shizuo glared daggers at Izaya, who had circled to the back of the classroom to get his half-eaten box of Pocky out of his bag, and was now sitting at his desk with his feet propped up, happily snacking away. Shizuo stomped over to him, fully intending to start a fight, when Izaya suddenly asked, "So, Shizu-chan, aren't you going to tell me?"

"... Tell you what?" Shizuo said, stopping abruptly.

Izaya sighed, and shook the box of Pocky in his hands meaningfully as he said, "Your favourite flavour!"

Shizuo glowered at him. "Why the hell do you keep asking? What does it matter to you?"

"I just wanna know, okay?" Izaya huffed.

Deciding that the conversation wasn't worth his time, Shizuo returned to cleaning, worried that the teacher might actually carry through with his threat of a week's worth of detention. He marched straight to the back of the classroom to get a towel out of the closet of cleaning supplies, but before he could even turn around, he heard a snippy voice from directly behind him.

"Don't ignore me when I'm talking to you, Shizu-chan!" Izaya said peevishly, and only realized a split second later that perhaps he was pushing things bit too far. Shizuo whirled around, a mixture of undiluted fury and loathing written across his face. Izaya took a step backwards, suddenly feeling very uncertain about the short distance between them, and that was when Shizuo's lips twitched, betraying the barest hint of a smirk.

The blond stepped towards him, and Izaya had the survival instinct to take an alarmed step back; they played this game across the entire length of the classroom, until Izaya finally found his legs had run into the edge of the teacher's desk. He glanced down, and then up again, and Shizuo was suddenly standing barely half a step away. Izaya froze, watching hawklike for what direction the first punch would come from, so that he might know whether to dodge or block—

Shizuo snatched the box of Pocky out of Izaya's hands, causing Izaya to blink twice, completely bewildered. Peering into the box, Shizuo found that there was only one stick left, and said in a sweet tone much more suited to the other boy, "Ah, is this for me? How sweet, I~za~ya~kun...!"

He paused, as Izaya was still frozen in shock, and only continued when a slow frown began to form on the other boy's face. As he drew the biscuit out of the box, Shizuo said smugly, "I wonder, how did you know that strawberry was my favourite flavour?"

Before Izaya could stop him, Shizuo had bitten into the stick of Pocky— the _last_ stick of Pocky— _Izaya's last stick of Pocky_, and left it dangling from the side of his mouth like a trophy. Izaya made a strange choked sound that Shizuo liked to think was perhaps the sound of getting one-upped, but no, Izaya was not yet ready to admit to such humiliating defeat. Darting forward, Izaya swiftly took the other end of the dessert stick between his own teeth, and jerked his head downwards, breaking the biscuit in two. Somehow, he had gotten the larger portion, which was completely unacceptable to Shizuo, and so he bit back, pleased when the biscuit broke in his own favour.

The stick of Pocky was hardly two inches long at that point, and Shizuo decided to shift it with his teeth and eat the entire thing, thus cementing his victory. Unfortunately, this turned out to be the worst idea he had ever had, for Izaya had already leaned in again, and they both reacted far too slowly to prevent their lips from meeting in what neither of them wanted to admit was a kiss.

They were both petrified for a moment; Shizuo was the first to react, and he promptly shoved Izaya away from him, spluttering and snarling, "What the fuck, Izaya!"

"Don't give me that look, that was your fault too!" Izaya said, his mortified look changing to a dangerous glare as he lifted the back of his hand to his mouth, rubbing at it.

Shizuo glared back, and suddenly noticed the blush that had fanned out across Izaya's cheeks; much to his horror, it was making him blush as well. Quickly facing away from Izaya, Shizuo went to grab his things from his desk, mumbling rapidly, "Aaahhh, whatever, I'm going home."

"Eh?! What?! You can't leave me to clean all of this up by myself!" Izaya protested, but Shizuo had already slipped out of the door, slamming it shut with such force that the walls seemed to shake a little. Izaya stared in the direction of the door for several seconds afterwards. His heart was racing for some inexplicable reason.

Shizuo had called him by his name. Just his name, and nothing else. Izaya froze. 'Shit, I did not just think that Shizu-chan was cute. I did not. Such a thing never happened—'

But, his favourite is strawberry...?

Izaya buried his face in his hands, feeling his skin heat up again. He shook his head, as if to clear the traitorous thoughts from his mind, and then paused for a moment. Had it just been his imagination, or had Shizuo been blushing as well...?

As Izaya dashed out of the classroom, he thought he might have seen their teacher just rounding the corner of the hall... Ah, but what did one week of detention matter? Especially if it was with Shizu-chan!

Bursting out of the front doors with a giddy expression, Izaya took the steps three at a time. Abruptly, a shrill voice called out to him, and Izaya nearly tripped over himself, startled.

"O-Orihara-kun! What a coincidence, running into you!" It was another girl. She had a box of Pocky in her hands. "I heard that your favourite flavour is s-strawberry, and so, I thought—"

Izaya's eyes narrowed, and he was about to lash out at her for stopping him for something so petty when he was clearly in a rush, when suddenly, he paused, and quietly said to himself, "Wait a second..."

"H-hm?" The girl blinked, confused. Izaya promptly gave her a dazzling smile, and she nearly swooned. Then, he delicately plucked the box of Pocky from her hands, and without so much as a thank you, continued running down the steps. He was out of sight within seconds.

Meanwhile, Shizuo had been shuffling along at a snail's pace, his mind churning over what had just happened. 'Aaaaugh, what the fuck, why was he blushing?! Why was _I_ blushing?! God damn it, flea...!'

Izaya caught up to him quickly, and Shizuo, having been lost in his own thoughts, did a double-take when he realized the raven-haired boy was now walking beside him.

"Why are you following me?!" Shizuo demanded, but Izaya did not reply. After another moment, Shizuo said, "... Stop smiling like that, it's creepy."

"Since strawberry is Shizu-chan's favourite flavour..." Izaya finally said, stopping as he held up the box of Pocky triumphantly.

Shizuo's cheeks flushed red, and he looked away, muttering, "What the fuck's gotten into you, flea?"

However, there was no real hostility in his voice, and after a moment, he reached out for the box. In an instant, Izaya drew back, clearly refusing to hand the Pocky to him, and Shizuo ground his teeth. If this was some kind of joke...

"Don't be so greedy, Shizu-chan! Strawberry is my favourite flavour too, so we have to share." Izaya lectured him, and then opened the box to put a stick of Pocky in his mouth, giving Shizuo and expectant look. Shizuo stared blankly at him. This was not happening.

"Yeah, right." Shizuo snorted after a long moment of silence, taking a stick of Pocky from the box before turning around and continuing on his way. Izaya pouted, but also continued walking, maintaining a distance of only a few paces between them.

Izaya continued to nibble away at the Pocky, refusing to share any more with the blond as they walked in what he presumed was the direction of Shizuo's home. He was in fact, surprised that Shizuo hadn't outright stopped him from following, and concluded that perhaps, earlier in the classroom, he _had_ seen Shizuo blushing after all... However, after another few blocks, Shizuo stopped in his tracks, spun around to face Izaya, and said quite firmly, "Stop following me!"

"No." Izaya replied childishly.

"Then... then at least share!" Shizuo said, trying not to blush and failing miserably.

"No!" Izaya said again, and to emphasize his point, he began to eat another stick of Pocky.

Shizuo looked as though he wanted to kill someone, but then he grabbed Izaya's shoulders, leaned down, and bit off half the biscuit that Izaya was eating. He let go immediately after that, and went on walking at a slightly faster pace than before. He could practically feel Izaya's stupid smile radiating at his back, and it made him redden all the way to the tips of his ears.

After a few more minutes of walking, neither of them saying a word to each other, they stopped in front of the doors to the lobby of an apartment, and Shizuo turned around and said a little tiredly, "I live here, so don't come in."

"Hmph, rude!" Izaya said, and lifted the box of Pocky, looking inside it only to find that there was just one biscuit left. They both stared at it for a moment, before Izaya grinned slyly and said, "Hmmm, you want the last one, don't you, Shizu-chan? Well! Too bad—"

"Would you shut up already!" Shizuo roared, and Izaya didn't even have a moment to brace himself before Shizuo grabbed him by the front of his shirt, dragged him close, and kissed him hungrily, biting and sucking and doing wonderfully amazing things with his tongue. It was over in a flash, leaving Izaya dazed and breathless, and Shizuo merely _smirked_, leaning in close to whisper, "That's a good look for you, Izaya~kun."

Drawing out the last stick of Pocky from the box, Shizuo turned to leave, but after taking only two steps, he dared to glance back at Izaya, who was still standing there, unmoving. A tiny sigh escaped him, and Shizuo went back to prod at Izaya's mouth with the biscuit until he finally flinched, and bit down on it. Shizuo then said in a perfectly deadpan voice, "There, now you got what you wanted, so go home—"

"Shizu-chan, when did you become this cute?!" Izaya said, his eyes wide and... _sparkling_. He nibbled at the biscuit stick as he allowed Shizuo to steer him back towards the street. As Shizuo ran back to the apartment's entrance, Izaya turned to wave, and called out happily, "I'll see you in detention tomorrow!"

It sounded suspiciously like a date, but Shizuo decided not to dwell on it, and hurried into the apartment's lobby. Too many strange things had happened today.

Izaya left feeling warm and fuzzy and all sorts of other peculiar things. Then, he remembered Shinra's challenge, and dug his cellphone out of his pocket to call the brunet. "Guess what? Mission complete!" Izaya hummed in a singsong voice.

Shinra sounded puzzled. "What?"

"You forgot already?! The challenge to find out Shizuo's favourite flavour of Pocky!" Izaya said, annoyed. "Anyway, it's strawberry."

"Oh, that. Wait, strawberry? Are you sure? How did you find out?"

"Ufufufu, wouldn't you like to know~" Izaya practically purred.

"Nevermind, don't tell me." Shinra said immediately, but it was already too late.

"_I kissed Shizu-chan today~!_" "_I said don't tell me—_" The two shouted simultaneously.

After a brief pause, Shinra choked out an incredulous "_... What?_"


End file.
